change versus more of the same

May 24, 2007

Earlier this month, Ed Young started a cool video blog and YouTube channel. It's been great watching these behind-the-scenes videos where Ed gets to share what's on his mind in a very informal way. The first video, where he discusses the struggles and challenges of ministry, has already been viewed over 3500 times.

There are so many fun and interesting ways to use technology to communicate, and new ones come online all the time. For instance, video blogging is barely mentioned in The Blogging Church and that came out just five months ago. I can't wait to see what's next!

September 17, 2006

This weekend, Ed Young started a brand-new series called Sexual Revolution. The first message, Stripped, was the best talk on sex I have ever heard. Sex should be divine - we devalue it, ourselves, and our creator when we treat it as nothing more than an appetite beyond our control. Whether you consider yourself a believer or not, take a few minutes to check it out. Besides, how many times do you get to see a bed in church?

May 17, 2006

Today is a dream come true: I get to see my name in the Wall Street Journal. I was interviewed for article on how churches are using blogs, podcasts, and other web technologies to reach people. I spoke with the author, Andrew LaVallee, a couple of weeks ago for about an hour after he came across the Blogging Church book site. Andrew was great to work with and was kind enough to let me know with the article went live.

My quote is found at the end (really, the very end). I'm pretty sure that's where they put the best quotes to reward people who read the whole thing :)

The article is currently free and doesn't require a subscription to read. After today, you will have to have an account. I believe the article is for the online edition only, but I'll be checking the print edition just to make sure.

Funny story...remember when I wrote about Jacob's Well - the future of church websites? I mentioned them to Andrew as a great example of what he was talking about and next thing you know they've got two paragraphs in the WSJ! Very cool. Life Church and National Community Church are also mentioned, amongst others.

Since I was about 14 years old, my favorite newspaper has been the Wall Street Journal. For most of my life, I have been unable to justify the hefty subscription fee, so I've made do with numerous 4-Week Free Trials! to get my fix. In fact, one of my favorite treats has always been a copy of the Friday Journal (the best edition due to the extra political coverage, and now movies, television, and other weekend items). Yes, I would choose a $1 paper over a $5 venti...I'm strange that way.

I'll even throw this story in, mostly for Ben (stories like this come in handy when you have a child approaching the teen years). When I was in college, money was so tight that I would regularly collect empty soda cans from the dorm to collect the recycling deposit ($0.10 each in Michigan!). If I was feeling especially rich, I would use that to by the Friday Journal. I think all of us have something that will forever seem like an incredible extravagance - for me, it's the Journal.

Of course, the irony is that I finally decided to treat myself to an entire year of the journal in December. The subscription has been on hold since January, pending the completion of the book. I love God's sense of humor!

April 16, 2006

I hope everyone is having a wonderful, peaceful Easter! We've had a terrific weekend of serving, worshipping, relaxing, and eating. This is my seventh Easter as a member of Fellowship Church and I can say without a doubt that it was the most powerful one I have ever attended (yes, even more than the time Bring Me to Life was performed). Every element, from the music and video, to the message and environment, blended together perfectly to create a truly amazing experience.

For the first time, we also had an outdoor sunrise service. It was truly moving to worship in the quiet with the lake and the blue sky as a background. The message had a lot to do with planes, so this may have been one of the first services to feature airplanes as props, since planes destined for DFW Airport were frequently seen overhead.

This weekend's message talks a lot about the questions surrounding the death and resurrection of Christ. If you're interested in some more background on this, Pastor Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church in Seattle recently posted a four part series on his blog. Mark is a great pastor and author who we recently had the privilege of interviewing for The Blogging Church. If you live in the Seattle area (raise your hands Microsoft people!), you should definitely visit Mars Hill one of these weekends or grab one of their podcasts.

February 10, 2006

Since we made the switch to open source and standards-based web development last April, this was the day we've been waiting for. We launched the new EdYoung.org in June and the new FellowshipConnection.com in August. Both of these sites were perfect proving grounds due to their scope and complexity. The FC site, however, was hundreds of pages across four different campuses and required a custom-built content management system, form builder, user management tool, and integration with our church database. At the same time, we were committed to building a site that was 100% standards compliant and functional across all browsers.

I've had the privilege of working over the past year with two of the most talented and dedicated web developers I know, Brad and Jeph. They are proof of the power of small teams when you have the right people in place - the new FellowshipChurch.com site was built in just 5 months, while still maintaining 4 other sites.

Take a look around and let me know what you think. Many of you are web developers, many of you are on staff at churches, and some of you are privileged to do both! I have no doubt you can provide invaluable feedback.

I'll post an overview of what our goals were, the cool features, and the behind-the-scenes technology soon. You can enjoy one of the pieces we're most proud of right now, though. A big challenge that every site redesign presents is how do you help your current users have an easy and enjoyable transition. Yesterday morning (yes, the morning of our launch) I had an idea.

A few months ago, we built a moderated online chat for FellowshipConnection.com. Very similar to Campfire, it is a clean, simple, elegant tool. It came to mind yesterday morning and I thought, "Wouldn't it be great to give people instant access to help with the new site through an online chat?"

Believe or not, the team retrofitted the application for the FC site in the middle of our launch day and by 6:00 last night, we were answering questions and getting feedback from many friendly, appreciative people. Have I mentioned how much I love this team?

You'll find a link to the chat on the homepage throughout the day, so stop by and say hello. It will be available next week as well as people start to use the new site.

February 04, 2006

Bono spoke this week at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington. You can watch the speech on C-SPAN.org (unfortunately, Real Player is required). It's a truly powerful speech, well worth watching. I've included excerpts below.

[1] God may well be with us in our mansions on the hill. I hope so. He may well be with us in all manner of controversial stuff. Maybe, maybe not. But the one thing, we can all agree - all faiths, all ideologies - is that God is with the vulnerable and the poor. God is in the slums and the cardboard boxes where the poor play house. God is in the silence of a mother who has infected her child with a virus that will end both their lives. God is in the cries heard under the rubble of war. God is in the debris of wasted opportunity and lives. And God is with us, if we are with them.

[2] This is not about charity in the end, is it? It's about justice, the good news yet to come. Look what happened in southeast Asia, with the tsunami. 150,000 lives lost to Mother Nature. Well, in Africa, 150,000 lives are lost every month, a tsunami every month, and it's a completely avoidable catastrophe.

[3] A number of years ago, I met a wise man who changed my life, in countless ways, big and small. I was always seeking the Lord's blessing and I'd be saying, "Look, I've got a new song. Would you look after it? I have a family and I'm going on tour, please look after them. I have this crazy idea, could I have a blessing on it?" And this wise man asked me to stop.

He said, "Stop asking God to bless what you're doing. Get involved in what God is doing, because it's already blessed."

February 02, 2006

If you're interested in standards-driven web design, be sure to checkout Godbit. The site features interviews with leading designers, book reviews, site evaluations, forums and more. There's a lot of high quality content.

Over the last couple of weeks, I've had the chance to get to know one of people who started Godbit, Nathan Smith. After I somehow managed to win a couple of books as the 100th forum user, we've started a very enjoyable conversation about web design and the church. Nathan is a great guy; he also has a terrific blog that's worth checking out.

Godbit is unique in that it's as passionate about the church as it is about good design. The goal is to encourage churches to build high-quality, accessible sites. Thankfully, the focus is on being helpful, rather than arrogance or relentless criticism.

The church is notoriously behind-the-times when it comes to technology. There are some good reasons (limited budgets, lack of expertise) for this and some not-so-good reasons (low standards and expectations), but the CSS revolution doesn't require more money or bigger servers - it just requires the time and effort to master a core set of skills. Of course, most churches do not have the staff and volunteers needed to make this happen and have to outsource web projects. If outsourcing is the best option for you, limit your search to design companies and freelancers who are committed to standards and accessibility.

Over the past twelve months, we have redesigned three of our sites and are starting to reap incredible benefits from the effort. I promise you that once you get a taste of the new world of web development, you'll never go back.

January 14, 2006

The 2006 Creative Church Conference is now less than two weeks away! Fellowship Church hosts the conference every year and it is consistently my favorite event. Of course, it's always one of the busiest as well, but that goes hand in hand. There's just something about the combination of fantastic speakers and sessions, unbelievable music, and thousands of fired-up leaders who are passionate about the local church. This is my sixth C3 and I can't wait! Ed Young, Bill Hybels, T.D. Jakes, and Erwin McManus...wow!

I won't be leading a breakout session this year, but there's going to be a Tech Time on Wednesday the 25th from 6:30 - 8:30 in our cafe. I'm calling it the Geek Meet & Greet. It's just an informal, come and go event where you can meet the FC technology and web teams and we can all share knowledge, ideas, and business cards.

And, as Steve would say, one more thing. It seems like the web team is always launching something new at C3. Hopefully, we'll have some neat stuff to share. If you'll be at C3 this year, I hope to see you there.

November 12, 2005

I had the privilege of meeting Mike Sharpe yesterday. Mike is the Technology Director at New Hope Christian Fellowship, Hawaii's largest church. He wanted to learn more about Fellowship and had some great questions, but as is so often the case, I think I learned more from him.

New Hope is a truly amazing story. Started just over 10 years ago, they now have over 10,000 people attending each weekend. They've also started a satellite church that now has more than 2,000 people showing up. The fact that all of this has happened despite the many challenges they face is equally inspiring.

The main campus meets in a high school that can seat about 1,500 people. They have five services each weekend and almost every one utilizes outside overflow to handle the crowd. Volunteers arrive in the middle of the night to convert the entire school into a church, including the classrooms into children's facilities. They remove every single thing from the rooms, clean and sanitize them, and then bring in everything they need, reversing the process on Sunday afternoon.

Due to the unbelievable cost of land and materials, they have no plans for a permanent facility, which surely makes them one of the largest portable churches in the country. With only 40 full-time staff, it is truly amazing to see what God is doing in Hawaii through the thousands of volunteers and members of New Hope.

Of course, we spent our time talking web and technology and there were some interesting things there as well. Their senior pastor has his own blog that he has used periodically and they are starting five staff blogs in the near future. They also stream all 5 of their services live online. This is heavily used by the many members of the church who are in the military and stationed around the world. They even have a station on Live365.com that receives tons of traffic despite almost zero promotion. I love to see cool technology with a purpose.

Lastly, I really like their website for two reasons: it's full of photos and stories. Whether you're new to a church or have been there for years, that's really what people want to see - the life of the church.

I hope I'll have the chance to visit New Hope someday and see it up close.

Tracy Barnes, one of our great pastors here at FC, was the first to open my eyes to this. He thought that electronic equipment might not be the best way to represent relationships and life change. I, on the other hand, thought it looked cool. I know better now. What do these graphics say to a single mother or someone looking to be part of a community?

Web teams have to resist the temptation to design sites and graphics that appeal primarily to people like us.

So, by the end of Monday, I promise to replace our technology equipment action shots with something a bit more warm and inviting. Anyone else want to help make the web a better place? Post your comments and any links you have to other examples.